Mozart, Wolfgang Amadé

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadé – Missa pro defunctis, Requiem in d-Moll KV 626 (New critical completion of the unfinished work, based on the traditional one by Salvador Mas Conde / First print)

Introduction

Here are succinctly presented the facts and what is known with certainty about Mozart’s Missa pro defunctis – the Requiem — its commission, its composition, and its completion: Mozart died in the early hours of December 5, 1791. He left behind his wife, Constanze, née Weber (1762–1842), and two young sons — Karl Thomas (1784–1858) and Franz Xaver Wolfgang (1791–1844).On the deceased composer’s desk there remained the draft of a fair-copy score and several sketches — Trümmer und Zettelchen [fragments and slips of paper] — for a Mass for the Dead — the Requiem —for which half of the agreed fee had already been paid in advance. …

… Nevertheless, we are convinced that the torso of the Requiem—if indeed it may be so called— requires no addition of new material purporting, in the aforementioned sense, to bring about its completion; in fact, we see no strictly musical necessity for such an undertaking. We therefore definitively abandon this path and add no new music to the Requiem. …..

Detailed introduction in German / English / Spanish … > HERE